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Friday, May 2, 2014

Impressions #4: Final Fantasy X-2 HD

Of
course, after playing Final Fantasy X, I just had to jump into the
other game in the HD collection. Final Fantasy X-2 presents an
interesting time in the history of the Final Fantasy series. This
game was the very first in the main franchise to be a “true”
sequel. Up until its release, each main installment of the Final
Fantasy series took place in an entirely different world with an
brand new cast of characters. Final Fantasy X-2 changed that by
taking place in the world of Spira two after years of Final Fantasy
X, and even had one of the game's two leading characters reprise her
role as protagonist. For better or worse, this is the game that
helped pave the way for the Final Fantasy XIII sub-franchise. Having
played through more than half of the game at this point, I have quite
a bit to say about it.

One of
the things I love most about Final Fantasy X-2, and was preserved in
the HD release, was the revival of the ATB system from prior games.
Though FFX's turn-based combat was still very solid even by modern
standards, I vastly prefer the combat in Final Fantasy X-2. I have
said, and will always say, that Final Fantasy X-2 represents the
pinnacle of the ATB combat system. The ATB allows combat to have the
strategy of a turn-based game, but with the real-time mechanics.
Enemies and allies make move in real-time, with various gauges
representing when they can make their moves. This gives the overall
impression of more of a brawl between two parties than a tightly
structured, “line-up” battle, which really adds to the game's
verisimilitude.

While
the ATB system was good, it is not the reason I like X-2 as much as I
do. No, that reason is the Dressphere system. One of the main
conceits in Final Fantasy X-2 is that the three party members have
devices called Garment Grids that allow them to utilize special
spheres called “Dresspheres” to change classes. Though this is
similar to previous Job Class systems like in Final Fantasy III, V,
and Tactics, it is fundamentally different. In previous games,
players had to select classes before battle. FFX-2 allowed the three
characters to class change in the middle of combat. Players can
choose to assign different Garment Grids to the character and the
positions of the Dresspheres in the grid. At any time, the girls can
change to a Dressphere that is adjacent to their current one on the
grid. The character will immediately switch classes in a Sailor
Moon-inspired transformation sequence. This allows players to react
to changing situations on the fly by switching to a Dressphere that
is more advantageous to the current situation. The sheer freedom this
system offers in combat feels a lot cooler than the turn-based combat
of the previous game.

Character
advancement also works in ways similar to older Job Class systems.
Though the main party levels up as they would in a typical RPG, they
do not learn abilities in the same way. As they use skills and
dispatch enemies in battle, they gain AP which is used to learn
skills for the currently equipped Dressphere. (The game presents a
list of skills a given Dressphere can learn, and players can choose,
within limits, which one to allocate future AP to.) This gives
players the ability to truly customize their battle tactics and have
each player character specialize in Dresspheres of their choice.
Combined with the ability to change Dressphere's mid-battle and the
revamped ATB system, Final Fantasy X-2 was a delight to play because
it truly gave players freedom to do as they pleased.

This
new-found focus on player freedom seems to have affected the
storyline in Final Fantasy X-2 as well. Though the story will
generally follow a similar course and reach the same final boss no
matter what the player does, players are encouraged to explore the
world at their own pace. The game expressly marks which areas in the
game absolutely needed to be completed to advance the plot, but
players are encouraged from the get go to put them off for a bit to
explore and look for side-content. Further, some scenarios and
situations will play out very differently depending on the things
players choose both to do and not to do. It is a very reactive game
at its core, both in the way players choose to develop their
characters and in the way it gives players options.

One of
the more contentious points of Final Fantasy X-2 is the overall tone
of the story. Compared to its predecessor, the tone of this game is
much more lighthearted. The female lead from FFX, Yuna, takes center
stage as the protagonist along with her cousin Rikku, who also in the
original party with her. Joining them is a new character named Paine.
The fact that all three characters are female gives the game a
distinct “Charlie's Angels” feel. Some people may be put off by
the games “cutesy”-er nature compared to other Final Fantasy
games, but those who are not can find plenty to enjoy here, despite a
fairly mediocre overall plot. It is fairly campy and does not take
itself all too seriously, which in my opinion improved the
experience. I can see where people has a problem with it, but I
personally did not mind.

As with
the HD version of Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2 brings the extra
content from the International version with it. However, unlike the
case with its predecessor's Expert Sphere Grid, the content does not
change the game in a very fundamental way. The game adds a few new
dresspheres, the Festivalist and the Psychic. These both add some new
and interesting skills to the overall skillset, but they are hardly
game-changing and could be safely ignored by most players. Nothing
particularly ground-breaking, but still a nice addition.

The
other new feature brought into the game is the new Monster Capture
mechanic. By completing certain main story events and participating
in Monster Arena tournaments, players can earn “Monster Pods”,
which can be use to capture monsters and event some human NPCs to use
in combat. Once a pod has been obtained, the player can lay them down
in specific areas to catch monsters. S-size pods capture small
monsters, while M- and L-sized pods capture medium and large monsters
respectively. Once captured, monsters can be swapped into the party
in the place of one or more of the three main characters. A small
monster only needs to replace one member, a medium will replace two
and a large will replace all three. Players do not have direct
control over a monsters action, but they can control a monster's
moral. High moral will make them act more aggressively and low morale
will cause them to be more defensive.

Monsters
will level up just as a normal party member would, but only if they
participate in battle. They can be further developed by feeding
accessories to them to boost stats and learn abilities. Abilities can
also be learned by monsters Blue Magic-style, where getting hit by
certain abilities will teach them their own variant of it if they
have one. Because of these limitations, it is highly unlikely that
most players will even take notice of or use this feature. When a
party member is replaced by a monster in battle, they do not gain
experience or AP towards their equipped dressphere. This gives the
player little incentive to utilize monsters. After all, every battle
that a monster fights is one that a party member is not gaining
anything from. Since the dresspheres offer enough variety in the way
party growth/development can occur, there are almost no reasons for
players to even think about using creatures. There is a “Monster
Arena” that players are told can be used to test their creatures'
abilities. However, since the main three protagonists can fight in
there as well, monsters will still get neglected. It is extremely
bizarre because I honestly cannot think of much of a reason why
anyone would use them.

Lastly,
it would be criminal to talk about an HD release without touching on
the updated graphics. The HD update seems to be even worse here than
in the HD release of Final Fantasy X. It is truly bizarre to see such
low-resolution models and movements of many of the NPCs juxtaposed on
this otherwise higher-res environment. The main character models
fair a bit better since they have more detailed models that were
easier to up-res. However, since most characters in the game are
minor characters, it is easy to notice the lower resolution compared
to Final Fantasy X HD. I am normally not a graphics snob, it would
have been nice to do more of a touch up here because of how obvious
and jarring the problem is.

Ultimately,
Final Fantasy X-2 is a hard game to recommend. While I would say that
it certainly plays better than most games in the franchise, the story
is divisive. Further, it requires some knowledge of the previous game
to truly understand the significance of many of the events of the
game. People who dislike the new, extremely lighthearted tone of the
plot might also have trouble getting into the game. Still, there is a
lot in the game for people who do like Final Fantasy, or at least did
during the PS2-era. The value here is extremely subjective, but I
would say it is worth trying out at least.